Sen. Weinberg, Sen. Cardinale, Sen. Gordon, Asw. Holly Schepisi, County Executive Kathleen Donovan and other area representatives met in agreement on the importance on getting the Steuben House (a State Historic Site) open and coming up with a creative funding source. Patch River Edge ArticleNJ.com ArticleNorthJersey.com ArticleHNBLP Commissioner Mary Donohue announced that in the past year BCHS has raised over $100,000 in private donations to build a museum building on BCHS land at Historic New Bridge Landing. Most of it was from individuals at $100 each.

BCHS opens HNBL & the Steuben House for special events. The Steuben House has not been open regular hours since the April '07 nor'easter. The Steuben House lost the curator position even though attendance was higher than ANY other NJ State Historic House Museum  including Ringwood Manor. (!?!?)

The Bergen County Historical Society is not a government agency and we do not receive any public operating grants or funds, we rely on private donations and membership. BCHS: private non-profit, all-volunteer organization, largest land-owner at Historic New Bridge Landing, over 4,000 objects in our collections not including our rare document and library collection.

Friday the 13th in July, 2012 was not only unlucky for historians and preservationists, but disastrous. The historic house at 273 Dunkerhook Road in Paramus became a pile of dust and rubble while owner and developer Sal Petruzelli of Quattro 4, LLC directed traffic and looked on with dispassionate approval. What probably took many weeks to build and housed generations of Zabriskies, Stewarts, Siscos, and Bennetts and stood for hundreds of years was demolished in the space of one hour. This house represented a fine example of Jersey Dutch sandstone architecture, the agricultural past that once was the way of life in Bergen County, and most importantly the intertwined relationships of the whites and African Americans in our past.

See the publicity and commentary in the Record. Could this happen in your town? Let's use this as motivation to make changes at the local level. Shameful final chapter for Paramus landmarkArticle by Mike Kelly. Amid the RubbleArticle by John Ensslin.